Suspected car thief goes on wild rampage

San Diego  A 24-year-old suspected car thief was arrested early Thursday after a wild crime spree in a stolen SUV that started in Point Loma and ended in Scripps Ranch.

The man, identified as Dustin Spencer Totten, was getting a ride home to Pacific Beach from a friend just before 11 p.m. after the two had been at a Narcotics Anonymous meeting, San Diego police Lt. Andra Brown said.

The driver stopped his black Nissan Xterra at a station on Rosecrans Street near Liberty Station and got out to get gas. While he was outside the SUV, Totten jumped behind the wheel and sped off, Brown said.

The victim called police and said he saw last saw Totten speeding down Rosecrans with all the windows of the SUV rolled down.

At midnight, officers were called to Rancho Bernardo where two women reported that a man tried to rob them, Brown said.

The women told officers that they were pulling up to a left turn lane on Pomerado Road at Rancho Bernardo Road, where they encountered a man standing in traffic lanes waving his hands outside a black SUV, Brown said.

The women thought the man needed help. He walked up to their car, tapped on a window and then pulled open the driver’s side door, Brown said.

He demanded that the women hand over all their money and threatened to kill them if they didn’t. The women did not comply but instead sped off with the car door still open. They drove a short distance and called 911.

Eight minutes later, a man in a black SUV pulled in front of a car parked on Rancho Bernardo Road and blocked in the vehicle.

The driver got out, walked up to the man and woman in the car and demanded they hand over cash. He acted like he had a gun under his blue hooded sweatshirt, Brown said.

The driver honked the horn and scared off the would-be thief, who then got back into the SUV and rammed the parked car before speeding off.

Totten next appeared at a 7-Eleven on Carmel Mountain Road where he demanded money from a customer walking into the store who ignored him, Brown said. Rebuffed and angry, Totten rammed the customer’s car several times before again driving away, Brown said.

The spree came to an end a short time later after an officer spotted the stolen SUV about 12:30 a.m. heading the wrong way into the drive-through of a fast-food restaurant on Black Mountain Road, Brown said.

The Xterra backed up because a car was in the lane, then pulled the wrong way into another drive-through and continued to drive erratically while honking his horn, the lieutenant said.

The officer tried to stop the vehicle but it sped off to an apartment complex on Twin Trails Drive, where the driver abandoned it and ran. He was caught after a short chase.

Officers reported that Totten smelled of alcohol and had a bottle of pills in a pocket, Brown said.

He was booked into jail on multiple charges including auto theft, assault with a deadly weapon and attempted robbery.

The Sheriff’s Department reported that Totten also appears to have been involved in a hit-and-run crash in Poway on Pomerado Road near Ted Williams Parkway during the spree.